Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature, 2nd Edition

With the exception of the first chapter, which is an enlightening but pretty dry history of book publishing, the author writes with an enganging and personable style that's highly unusual for an "academic" book. I picked it up thinking that I'd browse through it and found myself reading it cover to cover. There's a bit of the usual feminist/critical studies rhetoric but it's neither bombastic enough nor pervasive enough to dampen the book's accessibility nor its credibility.

 

Origami Ornaments is based on the design of traditional Japanese Kusudama ceremonial spheres. But the Japanese designs regularly require the use of glue to hold several parts together. Lew Rozelle has designed four basic models - base, joiner, clip, and hinge - which can be folded together, hanging in lovely globe or lantern shapes, thus remaining true to origami purist standards. Folded out of colorful paper, the ornaments can be made small enough to hang on a Christmas tree or large enough to hold aromatic potpourri.

The Love Poems of Rumi

These Rumi translation are open and welcoming. They are not just for lovers. Rumi speaks of self-love, and platonic love. These sensual poems are not so concrete that they are difficult to interpret. Read them to a lover and watch them blush and smile. See in their eyes a hint of recognition. After all poetry is a brilliant way to make love! However, this book was not nearly long enough, and the feel of the book was far too "abridged" for my taste. I gave this as a gift, which it was perfect for, but if I were buying it for myself, I would have wanted more of a complete works.

Create a Polymer Clay Impression

Sarajane Helm's book was a wonderful jump start to my amateur polymer clay artistic creations. Not only is it well written with easy to follow examples, but the pictures are aesthetically pleasing. I hate books where the examples shown are simply not visually appealing enough for me to try. This is not the case with this book. Kudos to the photographer Bobby Grieser.

Love Is Not Enough: What It Takes to Make It Work

"With minimal jargon, a psychologist/psychoanalyst in private practice in New York City gives practical advice on intimate relationships. With case examples, he explains what each individualÕs personality contributes to the drama and which emotional styles (of 20 described) promote or hinder compatibility. Self-assessments help readers identify what they are doing to help or hurt a relationship." – Reference & Research Book News